Across came a Diamond

A Story by Pixieholt

The girl thinks she has met her one true soul mate only to realize otherwise.

I watched him from a distance. How could I have not noticed him earlier?

The stunning Cameron Rodger was there leaning against the railing, the sleeves of his shirt pushed up to his elbows, his tie loosed and his tousled dark hair falling on his eyes.

And he was chatting away rapidly with my classmate, Nikki Raven, without so much as a glance at me.

“Anna” Tia’s voice snapped me back to attention, “Just go and talk to him.”

I moistened my lip and wondered and finally shook my head.

Tia did not push me since she was very well aware of my introvert nature. And even though I was shy and not exactly good at making new friends, I wanted to talk to him, to Cameron Rodger who had supposedly been in this school for the past few years without me even noticing.

***

Few days after, even I couldn’t understand how it happened, he and I were chatting full on.

Was it Nikki who introduced us? Or Tia? Or were we somehow attracted to each other by some unknown force?

Let’s scratch the last option.

The strange thing was the amount of things we had in common. Some would call it scary. I would call it scary.

“I hate the hardcore action packed movies.” I remembered saying once, “The Rom-Com are more of my type.”

“Hey” he exclaimed in a way that lit up his hazel eyes, “Me too.”

Then hastily added, “Please don’t tell that to anyone.”

“Sure” I laughed.

“What happened to your wrist?” he asked suddenly holding up my right hand to his eye level. There was a long ugly scratch straight up from the wrist to my elbow but what I registered was the warmth and surety in his grip.

“My cat” I simply said, “Snowflake.”

He examined the scar more closely, his touch lingering slightly in the hollow of my wrist and then abruptly dropped it.

“You hate him?”

“Of course not!” I said horrified, “Snowflake is my life! How could-”

“Relax, Anna” he smiled, “Even I love animals. Especially cats” There was something in the way he said that made my insides flip flop; the way he made everything sound simple and normal and in a way which made me realize that I was in love with him.

“There was a time I used to play the piano” he said his voice distant, “But now I am so busy and-”

“I play the piano” I said.

He gave a strange smile.

“What’s your favorite color Anna?”

“Indigo” I said after a while.

He gave an uneasy laugh, “me too”

I realized where he was getting at.

“Where do you…uh…stay during break? Cafeteria?"

“No. It’s too crowded-” I began but he cut me.

“-In the middle quad because the cafeteria is too noisy?” he finished with a question.

“Uh-huh” I said raising my eyebrows, “How come I’ve never seen you?”

“How come I’ve never seen you?” he smirked as his eyes glistening ever so slightly in the rays of setting sun.

***

I love Cameron Rodger. I am in love with Cameron Rodger-right from his perfect jaw line to his lean, muscular frame, from his cute dimples to the sound of his laughter, from his playful, easy going personality to….uh…everything.

How can you love a person so much that it hurts?

The next morning in the bus, a guy I recognized as Cameron’s friend slipped beside me.

“Anna, right?” he asked giving me a short smile.

I nodded.

I wasn’t really the type to chit chat, especially with an unknown person so I continued staring at the passing streets, wishing he’d take the cue and leave.

“I am Josh. A friend of Cameron’s.”

This time I let myself slip a small smile.

He leaned back casually on the seat, “So, you a friend of Nikki?”

I nodded.

He straightened up, “Please, God! Please tell me that this Nikki girl is not a good person.” He almost begged.

Nikki Ravens. My mind flipped to the gorgeous blonde with sparkling blue eyes and a voluptuous body. People think she’s hot, if not sexy, but I always had this idea of her being a cross between Pamela Anderson and Kim Kardashian. In other words, kind of vulgar.

I usually hate it when people associate me with her. I never even realized that we were creating a bond, which I knew was only held by a gossamer thread. Yet, now, for instance, Josh actually had the nerve to ask me whether I was her friend!

But again, I couldn’t deny it because we were sometimes found together although it was her who would skip towards me and ask me for my Maybelline gloss and go on about some new guy every day.

In fact, I clearly remember my English teacher’s waning, “Anna, stay away from that girl.”

The teacher hadn’t offered any explanation but I quickly found out that she came from some private school in Georgia to here. In a public school. In Indiana. Obviously, there is something wrong.

“Umm…why?” I asked.

Josh bit his lips, “Because Cameron is head over heels in love with that girl and I don’t like her.”

Because Cameron is head over heels in love with that girl.

***

I didn’t see Cameron during the whole day, not even during break. And I didn’t see Nikki either.

Later the evening, I checked my WhatsApp. The first thing that was written was by Nikki.

Hey guys! ‘Cameron’ asked me out.

I heard the bathroom door close quietly behind me as I slid against it.

The first few minutes were the worst when the tears burned down my face, and my breath caught in my throat as my heart shreds into pieces.

It was all again like the episode with Chris Marquee, when the someone pressed the repeat button and everything played out again, this time without buffering and it went so smoothly that you start feeling that everything will work out but in the end the video would be caught hanging because your internet connection just got terminated.

As time gradually passed, and minutes turned to hours, I stood up and walked to the mirror. The mascara had streaked my face black and my eyes were blood shot and puffy. I looked hideous like the Black Queen from Once upon a time.

I quickly cleaned my face as much as I could. Only the slightest hint of black mascara remained hinting that I had been crying for hours.

My phone had several missed call and innumerous messages.

I only checked the message from Tia,

How could that stupid Cameron choose Nikki over you? Don’t worry Anna. We are there for you.

I smiled. Tia always made me feel better.

I often see Cameron and Nikki together, during lunch, between classes and I do my best to ignore them.

I have this flattering feeling that Cameron is well aware of my cold shoulder but he doesn’t respond.

The difference was that Chris Marquee was a jerk but Cameron wasn’t. He was like a diamond that skimmed through my life, leaving a permanent mark in my heart. He was a good person, charming and handsome but very uninterested in me.

However that still doesn’t stop me from having that strange feeling inside my stomach whenever I see him pass.

But that will stop. It always does.

________________________________________________________________________

Pixie Holt